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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Narayanganj

Narayanganj is a city in central Bangladesh and it is the headquarters of Narayanganj District. It is located in the Dhaka division and it is very near the capital city of Dhaka. The city is on the bank of the Shitalakkha River. The Narayanganj river port is one of the oldest river ports in Bangladesh. It is another center area of many kinds of business and industry, but the jute trade, processing plants and now a day’s textile sector are main icons of this area. Due to the presence of lots of jute mills it is nicknamed the “Dundee of Bangladesh”.“Dundee” was the first industrialized Jute polis in the world. Due to many common reasons, it is well known in the whole Asia.

The district got its name from Bicon Lal Pandey, who was also generally known as Benur Thakur or Lakhsmi Narayan Thakur. In 1766, he leased the area from the British East India Company. Bicon Lal donated the markets and the land on the banks of the river as Devottor or Given to God property, bequethed for maintenance expenses for the worship of the god Narayan. In 1866, a post office was set up in Narayanganj and Narayanganj municipality was constituted on 8 September1876. Dhaka-Narayanganj telegraph service was started from 1877. In 1882, The Bank of Bengal introduced the first telephone service in Narayanganj.

Narayanganj District was a subdivision of Dhaka district till 15 February 1984, after that it was upgraded to zilla. Narayanganj is the oldest and most prominent river port in the country. During the early parts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it became more important with the arrival of the Portuguese and the English traders. In the mid-seventeenth century, since the rule of Mir Jumla, the west bank of Shitalakkha was an important commercial centre, but it was not very busy until the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1830, the first foreign company to start trading jute in the area was the Rally Brothers, which with the help of an Assamese company, started to export the fiber from the port to the western countries. In 1907- 1908, there were 20 firms at Narayanganj engaged in the purchase, bailing and supply of raw jute to Calcutta mills. Of these, 18 were in European ownership and two in Indian ownership.

In 1947, with formation of Pakistan, things changed overnight. Narayanganj, which was simply a jute market, had to be converted into an industrial centre of jute. All the jute mills and presses in and around Calcutta fell to the share of India. East Pakistan was rich in the golden fiber but had no jute mill and had a very small baling capacity, which had to be increased within a short time to meet the overseas demand. The Adamjees of West Pakistan came into the field at this stage and established the biggest jute mill in the world at Narayanganj. This followed establishment of a number of mills in and around Narayanganj that gave the local economy a great boost.

Narayanganj has a total area of 789.24 square kilometer. This district is bounded by Dhaka on the west, Comilla and Brahmanbaria on the east, Narsingdi on the north and Munshiganj on the south. But the Shitalakkha River divides the town into two parts. This Zilla consists of six upazillas, 49 unions and 828 mauzas. Narayanganj Sadar, Sonargoan, Rupganj, Araihazar, Bandar and Siddirgoanj are the upazillas. The city has a total population of 1.7 million where male 56.24% and female 43.76% (Muslims 86%, Hindus 13% and other religion 01%). Here the average literacy rate is 61.03%.

Economical environment in the Narayanganj is good. The rural economy of Narayanganj is agriculture. But many small and medium industries of cotton are increasing day by day. In this region the main occupations of the people are agriculture 29%, agricultural laborer 16%, wage laborer 3%, commerce 17%, service 11%, industry 6%, transport 5% and others 13%. Some people are working as foreign workers in the Middle East countries. But now a day many people works in the buying house, garments sector and Shipyards sector.

The transportation system in the Narayanganj is very good, like the capital city Dhaka. It is well connected with all the districts of Bangladesh and also in this region. The main transport system in the city is train, buses, mini buses, cars and rickshaws. Narayanganj is well connected by highways and railways links to Northern Bangladesh and capital city Dhaka. Almost the whole of Narayanganj district lies on the meander flood plain. Most of this area is now flooded only by rain-water. Only minor areas near the Lakka. Old Brahmaputra, Meghna, shitalakha and Dhaleswari River are affected by river water and receive fresh silt deposits. A wide variety of soils occurs in this district.

Narayanganj has also some tourist attraction for its beauty. Shitalakkha River is very famous river in this area. Sonargoan and Rupganj are very famous for its historical beauty. The house of Becon Lal Pandey and the tomb of Giyasuddin Azam Shah are another historical place in Narayanganj. The ancient city of Sonargaon was the capital of Isa Khan (a medieval ruler of Bengal). Sonargaon is also famous for producing muslin cloths. The Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) embankment surrounds Narayanganj district and protects it from flooding. Narayanganj is also home to the Bangladesh Engineering and Ship Building Corporation (established in 1925) at Sonakanda on the east bank of the Shitalakkha River.

Important for all

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